Stana Katic had her plate full when producers handed her the script for tonight’s episode “Kill Shot.” But she was more than up for the challenge of having to tackle one of Beckett’s most emotionally raw episodes yet. “I was really excited that we are continuing to delve deeper into the characters and keeping some of those major events we’ve played going and giving them a longer life, which is something that’s true this season,” she says. She’s of course referring to the consequences of Beckett’s shooting last season at the hands of a sniper, which this season, has sent the detective into a tailspin.

Tonight, Beckett gets out of control. If she’s not panicking during key moments, she’s uncharacteristically turning to alcohol to numb the pain she’s been reluctant to deal with. For Katic, the episode is full of telling moments. “I think this episode highlights the fact that she’s that modern-day hero who is not perfect, but trying to do her best,” she says. “She doesn’t always make the best choices or the right choices, but she’s trying to grow and push for her better self. It’s a character and hero people can relate to. I don’t think we have Supermen anymore. We have people who are flawed and those are interesting people to watch.” (See a clip from the episode here.)

Arguably most interesting of all, however, is the final scene of the episode: Katic says it will change Castle and Beckett’s relationship, which this season, has – save a few cute moments – been stalled. “This is part of that romantic progression,” she says. “There aren’t as many ‘Castle/Beckett solving the crime’ moments as there usually are, but one of the things that’s been holding Beckett back is the fact that she knows in order to be a fully invested partner and person in a relationship, she has to have some sort of closure on this unsolved murder of her mother.”

The mystery of Beckett’s mother’s murder has been ongoing since the first season, and while tonight brings her no closer to solving the case, her own struggles will help Beckett see the future clearer, says Katic. “Beckett is hitting a point, by the end of this episode, where she decides that she’s the one who’s going to take her life by the reigns and take control of it,” she says. “She’s going to decide which rules she wants to play by, and I think, she’s going to choose to dive in. There’s a really beautiful moment at the end where she doesn’t want to be defined by that experience anymore, which brings her so much closer to saying, ‘You know what, Castle? I love you, too.’”